CIMA where business + finance meet
Securing 29% savings against the baseline, 14% reduced headcount, and 16 months payback ‘We have established an effective, lean and consistent finance organisation, with clear roles and responsibilities based on an aligned standard activity split.’ Andrew Hall, CFO North West Europe, Siemens
Neil Sansbury FCMA, CGMA Divisional Finance Director, Siemens In 2008 Siemens changed it’s global organisation structure into four lines of business and 17 geographical regions. The regions were tasked with enforcing governance and providing efficient infrastructure support such as HR, IT and Finance.
The breadth of the project affected the roles of over 400 people and required sensitive handling and close alignment with the HR team to correctly address the human dimension within different jurisdictions.
As Transformation Manager, Neil Sansbury FCMA, CGMA, helped deliver a change programme to the finance function in North West Europe which delivered unified processes, ensuring integrity and clearly defined responsibilities as well as reducing costs by 29% against the baseline. The project reduced headcount by 14% and had a payback of 16 months.
To align activities and responsibilities on a consistent basis , a standard activity split was derived which indicated which tasks were performed by shared services, centrally in the region or locally within the business. The shared service centre is the transactional power house and by consolidating in low cost countries, contributed the largest financial gain with more savings projected as processes are further standardised and automated.
‘The transformation team consisted of senior finance staff, partnered with alumni from the Siemens finance talent schemes and supported by external consultants. About 70% of the team were CIMA qualified which proved to be a critical success factor due to the fundamental understanding of financial processes irrespective of function, market place or location,’ says Sansbury.
‘Consolidating the expert functions and the clear definition of responsibilities has increased the robustness of our processes, ensures consistency and has improved the quality of our financial reporting. The end result is an effective, lean and consistent finance organisation providing transparent and high quality processes in support of the regional business,’ adds Sansbury.
‘Previously the structure within finance had become disparate and fragmented as a result of acquisitions, and the use of shared services was not consistently taken-up. In scope were 60 legal entities across the UK, Ireland, Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania and Poland.’
CIMA value: Siemens Effective, lean and more flexible finance functions. Faster, more focused and less complex processes. Improved cost position. T. +44 (0)20 8849 2251 E. cima.contact@cimaglobal.com www.cimaglobal.com